Qld PM permanently banned from industry after mismanaging rental funds

Following its investigation, the watchdog found that Storry was “not a suitable person to hold a real estate licence”, permanently barring her from the industry.

According to court papers, Storry took over running her father’s property management business, ASRE, in 2017, as his health deteriorated due to illness, before establishing Storry Real Estate (SRE) in 2018.

While she began transferring clients and tenants to the new operation, properties managed across Lutwyche, Gordon Park, Kedron, and Ashgrove still operated under her father’s business.

An investigation by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading (OFT) soon found significant trust accounting breaches, including a reported shortfall of $28,868.37 in ASRE, her father’s business trust account.

Storry could not explain the shortfall but told the OFT that she drew $6,000.00 per month from the agency’s commission income, rather than the exact amounts she was owed from landlords.

To continue her operations, Storry told the watchdog she had opened a new account to pay rental income under SRE, while the trust account for ASRE was still under scrutiny.

As issues around trust accounting kept arising, the OFT took steps to freeze ASRE’s trust account, and later froze the SRE account as well.

OFT inspectors later attended Storry’s residence, where she conducted her business, and found her records disorderly, while Storry was unable to produce a trust account reconciliation or cash books.

As a result, the watchdog then appointed an independent receiver to oversee and manage the trust accounts of both businesses.

Last month, the tribunal found Storry obstructed the receiver by refusing to cooperate and withholding business records she needed to take control of the accounts, while attempting to stop her from contacting clients.

The records included trust account ledgers, transaction records, rental income, owner statements and tenant payment records.

Additionally, the tribunal found Storry had engaged in improper conduct by not accounting to clients for rental money received, drawing money from the trust account, and not transferring bond money received to the Residential Tenancies Authority (RTA).

The OFT has paid affected landlords $54,694.34 for unaccounted rent from its claim fund, with much of the cost later reimbursed from Storry’s trust account.

The tribunal noted that, when taking over her father’s business, Storry was either unaware of her obligations or overwhelmed by the task of managing the properties, receiving rents, and accounting to clients.

“It would appear she was simply overwhelmed with the task of continuing Mr Storry’s well-founded business and therefore failed to follow, or was ignorant of, regulatory procedures,” it said.

However, it said that, “in the face of incontrovertible evidence”, Storry had continued to deny any wrongdoing.

When deciding on her penalty, the tribunal feared that if Storry was only temporarily disqualified from the industry, she might not behave in line with her legal responsibilities once the ban lifted.

“Her conduct demonstrated through these proceedings, and others referred to in her own filed documents, gives me no confidence that she will,” it said.

“There is also the question of the assumed public confidence reposed in a licensee to be considered in relation to future clients who might engage her services. Therefore, caution should be exercised in imposing a fixed term.”

As a consequence of her actions, the tribunal permanently banned Storry from holding any licence in the Queensland real estate industry.

“Ms Storry is not a suitable person to hold a real estate licence under the Property Occupations Act (POA),” it said.